Happy Mother's Day

A little late for this post - I know. Where does the time go? Anyhoo....

I got the best Mother's Day present a little early from Carter - He is finally walking!!!! YEA! Carter has been crusing the furniture for a while now and we were just waiting for him to finally decide to take that first step unassisted and he did. We were so elated! Now we can keep him still. He still walks with his arms in the air for balance and it looks so cute!

Riley gave me a present a few days later - no more ear infection. What a present! After 3 different antibiotics and nose spray his ear infection finally subsided. That little bugger just wouldn't let go and made my little rebel a miserable little boy. He is finally back to his old self - going non stop.

Riley has always done things first, first tooth, first to crawl, first to walk etc.

Well, Carter finally got his turn and decided to cut his first eye (canine) tooth. They are both cutting all of them at the same time and they are not very happy. I thought the other teeth were bad - boy was I wrong. Both of them ran fevers and just laid around miserable.

All is well now and that the tooth and nuttin but the tooth.

Riley - only one pic Not very photogenic here lately.

Carter - just can't keep from smilin'

Little Bug

It has been a pretty rough week around here. I thought at one point will this ever end? We are still not out of the woods yet but the fevers are gone and now it's just trying to get back to normal.

Carter as of Tuesday... Had to stop feeds by Wednesday afternoon and go straight pedialyte, by Thursday afternoon water. Had to get him rehydrated due to the the big "D" first then resume feedings. As of Friday, 1/2 strength feeds and by Saturday night full strength. Saturday he became active again and playing with toys and crawling around on the floor. Pretty sick the last few days and had to be held constantly and slept pretty much all day and all night. He did manage to sleep in his bed soundly by Thursday night.

Riley as of Tuesday...pretty much like a rag doll. Wednesday began throwing up and ran a fever of 102.9 for 24 hours. We were lucky to get him to drink water and maybe eat a cracker or two. We managed to keep him hydrated enough not to be hospitalized but we were worried since he was so lifeless. We believe he has the dreaded stomach bug with his ear infection since dad got sick as well by Thursday. Friday he was able to eat some crackers and toast with gatorade or water and was able to keep it down. Saturday he drank some broth, ate toast, dry rice crispies, and some mashed bananas along with water and gatorade. He did manage to walk around some on Saturday but he has had to be held pretty much all day since Tuesday. He has not had a lot of energy though. He has slept pretty much all day and all night and still not up to par but we hope we are on the mend. The dreaded "D" has his system all out of wack and not wanting to eat a whole lot but when we present him with food he wants it because he is so hungry. There is only a certain types of food he can eat right now and he is not pleased about it. He wants to eat his McD's chicken nugget happy meal not the bland stuff we are trying to give him.

Thanks to my mom we have been able to manage with daddy being sick as well. Just as I change a diaper on one baby the other has to be changed along with a new change of clothes usually for both along with the one who was holding them at the time the diaper change was needed. Lots of laundry, full trash bins, and diapers. Should have bought stock in diapers, desitin, and vinyl glove companies when the kids were born!

This little bug that had decided to sneak through our back door has taken the life out of our little ones and we hope they get on the mend soon.

I would like a Single and Double Please

We hope everyone had a great Easter and I hope SPRING is officially around the corner. This weird weather is about to make us go batty. Honestly, will it ever stop? Carter and Riley were a wee bit under the weather this Easter but we did visit family this weekend out of the house which was nice. Lockdown officially over = world here we come.

As far as the title you ask? Well, the sicklies turned horrible by Monday with the coughing, and coughing and runny noses (thanks to the fire outbreaks on Thursday of last week that filled the air with smoke and of course the additional pollen) which led to ever so lucky ear infections. We visited the pedi yesterday to confirm the awful news that I had already suspected. Riley double ear infection - was blessed with Omnicef, and some numbing ear drops. Carter a Single in the right ear - was also blessed with Omnicef and some Allegra. Carter seems to have many issues with drainage partly due to the eating overnight and wakes up every morning (yes every morning) throwing up phlegm. So we hope this will help control some of this drainage he is having.

Most moms look forward to waking up to a new day and greeting their children with love and kisses. Well, I do that then there is the screams from Riley that I have not released him from his crib cage and tending to the throw up baby - taking off all the tubing and wires, changing the diaper which is usually dirty and then changing his clothes that are wet from the throw up which are usually changed again in another 30 minutes with another diaper change. It takes a toll on his body to eat all night but to get the nutrition he needs at this point and due to his intolerance of larger volume during the day this is our only option at the time.

On a better note, Riley has new glasses. When we went to the optical place in March, they indicated that his were too small and he needed new ones. I was like do what???? He just starting wearing these and bending them in ways that should not be bent. Why in the world would I want to spend more on new ones when these are still good and in one piece? Well the good went from bad to worse within a month. The week after we had them adjusted, he broke the ear piece. Got it fixed but did notice that he was taking them off more and more. Yes indeed, they were to small after all. I couldn't keep them on him because they were hurting his poor little face. So I take him to another optical place, one that is closer to home than Ft. Worth optical place and we order new ones. The day before I take him to pick them up - he breaks them again! Luckly, the break was the same ear piece but in a better spot to do a little southern engineering with duct tape. It worked until we could get his new ones the next day and wha la - he is keeping them on again. Riley cannot see very well without them and was running into everything including the walls. So we will see how long these will last and that will help us decide about a back up pair.

Lots more to report and pics to come in later posts.

Texas RSV Season Over?

Well, I am still a little leary about getting my little ones out and about but according to the pediatrician and Cook Children's, the boys will not have to get anymore RSV shots. maybe because they are a little older or what don't know for sure but they indicated that RSV admissions and treatments down 4%. What does that mean exactly? don't rightly know but I am thankful that they do not have to receive any more shots and knocking on wood that we make it out of the winter season to the spring season with no major hiccups.

I did manage to vacate the premises for a little while yesterday and enjoy Mom time without the kiddoes. I stopped by the main office of where I worked before the kids arrived and I was glad I did. It was so nice to be able to visit with almost everyone - sorry if I missed you but I will catch you next time. Sometimes it is hard to imagine that i don't work there anymore eventhough it has been about 2 years since I left. Thank you to all that spared a minute to visit with me, it was great to get out and visit the real world!

What going on

It seems I run out of time during the day these days just to type a simple post. The boys are keeping all of us busy and becoming somewhat of normal - whatever normal is...

Riley is into everything and carrying everything around to play with or throw...depends on the mood. He does bring us books for him to read now. We are having to boost some of his caloric intake with benecalorie or other calorie booster just for some added umph. Not too much but just enough to make sure he is getting the calories he needs to continue to grow. He is wanting to feed himself more and therefore not getting all the nutrition he should - picky eater. His philosophy - I eat what i want when I want. As of the last visit Riley is about 20lbs. Riley had his one year followup with Cardiology and from all indications his VSD is closed and is not causing his lungs any problems. So unless hypertension sets in or other factors from his lungs cause undue stress on his heart we will not have to go back - yea! Strike one doctor from the list!

He is wearing his glasses more these days and the opthlamologist is pleased. We are expected to increase his lenses in 5 months. We went by the optic place to adjust his frames on thursday of last week and what do you know - he just broke them - looks like i have to go back and get them fixed. To riley, no big deal mom but for me it's 1hr 1/2 drive one way just to get them fixed!

Carter is doing well and is topping the scales around 21 lbs and 9 oz. and growing big every day. He has not decided to walk without support yet but is getting stronger everyday. His ankles are showing signs of weakness so we must wear our shoes more to help him. We expect to see him walking around soon. We had our GI appointment last week and they have scheduled another swallow study to see what the food is doing when it goes down his throat. They have also changed his formula to Peptamin Jr. PreBio and he seems to be tolerating it well. Still not eating orally but we hope to get this restarted soon.

Look at all the cool stuff!!

Sorry it has been so long since i have posted last and i hope to have video on here soon of the boys. They have been keeping us busy lately. Riley is moving everywhere and we are so excited. He is walking all over the house unassisted and is now getting to the standing position from the middle of the floor. Yea! They are growing so much everyday and we can't wait until we get out the RSV quarantine.

Carter loves to watch his brother just cruise around the living room and has been getting better at pulling up to furniture and cruising around. He still has issues with putting any food in his mouth so we are doing no food therapy at this time and hopefully we will be able to restart trying to eat by mouth again soon.

Honey - We have a large Cockroach!!!

No folks, it is not really a cockroach but it sure crawls like one. And with whom do you think I am referring to? Well, it's Carter!!! Yes we are officially crawling on all fours and it is so cute. On Jan 10th he decided that he wanted a toy that Riley had so he decided to crawl over to it and take it away from him.

I can't express my joy enough that Carter has now the drive, the want to and inquisitive nature to want to explore the toys and figure out how to get to them. And to even top that, this weekend he now wants to try to pull up on everything! I guess he sees Riley doing all this cool stuff and he wants to do it too.

We did have our 18 month check up earlier this month and Carter weighs 20 lbs 8 oz and is over 30 inches long. Riley is 19 lbs and is 29 inches long. We are so please with their progress and can't wait for more.

I know many of you wonder, why are they just now doing this or that when most babies younger than ours already farther ahead. Well, being a micropreemie does have its disadvantages and we have known from the beginning that they would be behind for a while. You can only do so much in a given day and I do many daily therapies with them shown to me by their therapists.

Anyhoo - we are so happy and i hope to soon be reporting about riley and his ability to walk by himself - we are close - just one sandwich short of a picnic.